Positive youth development linked with prevention in a Vietnamese American community: Successes, challenges, and lessons learned

Positive Youth Development

“…Two program evaluations conducted in the United States, one in a Vietnamese community (Kegler, Young, Marshall, Bui, & Rodine 2005 ) and another in a Chicano -Latino community (Bloomberg, Ganey, Alba, Quintero, & Alcantara, 2003 ), suggest that concepts of PYD, such as confidence, connection, competence and contribution, are culturally relevant and viewed within the respective cultures as related to positive outcomes in youth. Research on the topic is needed with diverse groups in the United States, as well as internationally, both in Western and non -Western cultures.…”

Inspiring Healthy Adolescent Choices: A Rationale for and Guide to Strength Promotion in Primary Care

“…As Pittman has pointed out, successful prevention programs share a common set of inputs "nearly identical to the list of basic inputs necessary to development and engagement: opportunities for membership, social skill building, participation, clear norms, adultyouth relationships and relevant information and services" [9]. Consensus is still emerging around which assets are most important [47]; but across all socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups, the presence of assets or strengths is positively linked with increased healthy behaviors and fewer risk behaviors [46,48,49].…”

So what have we learned? The Editors’ comments on the coalition approach to teen pregnancy

“…A number of well-conducted evaluations have suggested that youth development can be an effective approach to preventing teen pregnancy [13], but none of the youth development projects undertaken by the sites were of the magnitude of the projects that had been studied and their small size made it impossible to measure their effect on teen pregnancy. One CCPP project, a study of a youth development program in the Vietnamese community in Oklahoma City, reported that teens believed there had been improvement in communication with parents and other adults, in leadership skills, and in constructive use of time [14].…”